Meal Planning with Mindie: Panini Perfection

I love serving panini sandwiches to my family.  You can really get creative with your ingredients.  I have two rules, use lots of cheese, and good bread. The best part is you won't have to even turn on the oven for dinner.  Paninis are great to serve to a bunch of picky eaters, since you can customize each sandwich you make easily. Here are a few of my own personal recipes my  family loves.  I hope you enjoy these breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizer, and dessert panini recipes.

Peppe Chicken Panini

This is my latest creation, and super hearty grilled sandwich I know you will love.

Pepperoni and grilled chicken make a perfect combination in this triple decker panini, that has a layer of basil pesto and marinara, all on garlic sourdough bread with lots of mozzarella cheese.

Ingredients:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (optional)

Garlic Sourdough Bread

Deli Sliced Mozzarella Cheese

Reduced Fat Mayo with Olive Oil by Kraft

Grilled Chicken Breast Strips (I bought fully cooked strips from store)

Fresh Baby Spinach

Basil Pesto (I used Mezzetta brand)

Roasted Bell Peppers (I used Mezzetta brand)

Marinara (any store brand you love)

Pepperoni (I used Turkey)

Layer your sandwich as following, bread, cheese, mayo, chicken, spinach,cheese, pesto, bread, marinara, pepperoni, roasted bell pepper (drained), mayo, cheese, bread.  Optional brush the bread with olive oil. Tip, The center piece of bread will work to soak up the marinara and pesto keeping your panini from getting soggy.  When making paninis I prefer to have cheese the ingredient closest to the two outer layers of bread.  The cheese will melt properly this way, and help make your panini extra crispy.  It will also work as a barrier keeping the condiments from making your panini soggy. Press and grill in a preheated 400-425 F degree panini press or on stove top on a grill pan, for 2 to 4 minutes or until cheese is melted and bread has grill marks.

Garlic Sourdough Ham Egg and Swiss Panini

I love this one because it is appropriate for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  The garlic sourdough, garlic and herb mayo, and garden vegetable cream cheese make for an unexpected yet tasty combination. You can find my recipe for this panini HERE.

Perfect Panini

 Grilled cheese never tasted so good with this combination of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, garlic basil pesto, and Philadelphia Spinach &and Artichoke Cream Cheese on Sourdough bread. The combination of flavors, with the gooey cheese, and crispy bread are heavenly. If you have a carnivore on your hands, no fear, cooked bacon, chicken, or turkey all go great in this panini.

You can find my recipe for this panini HERE.

Garden Vegetable Panini

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Tomatoes, fresh spinach, sauteed red onion and mushrooms in balsamic vinegar, fresh mozzarella and Philadelphia Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese on french bread make this panini a vegetable lovers dream.

My recipe can be found HERE.

 Prosciutto and Mozzarella Panini Bites

Depending on how you slice your panini, you can even turn one into a perfect appetizer.

An Italian twist on the good old American ham and cheese sandwich. These savory little bites can be ready in minutes for your guest to enjoy.  Find my recipe HERE.

Sweet Panini Sliders

Yes you can even bring dessert to the table in minutes with a sweet panini.

These would make great dessert finger food at a dinner party or kids party, since the ingredients are so kid friendly. Each child could have fun preparing their own panini as you handle the grilling. Honey nut cream cheese, Nutella, bananas, marshmallows, on sweet Hawaiin bread rolls dusted with a little powdered sugar. You can find my recipe HERE.

I hope you will give these recipes a try.  They are all super easy to prepare letting you get breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizer, or dessert on the table in minutes.  Come back next week when I dive into sharing some of my favorite Halloween and Fall inspired recipes.

Bio: When Mindie May Hilton isn't chasing after her two rambunctious little boys, she is blogging at Bacon Time with the Hungry Hungry Hypo, sharing recipes, crafting, and designing for her shop TLC Creations. She graduated from CSUB with a major in Liberal Studies and minored in Fine Arts. She recently took second place in a recipe video cooking contest held by Johnsonville sausage, competing with almost 1500 other chefs. You can find one of her latest recipes published in a new cook book in association with Kraft foods and Paula Deen for the Real Women of Philadelphia.